![\"Text](\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Listen to this article<\/p>\n
Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n
Ver\u00f3nica Guti\u00e9rrez woke up to what seemed like \u201ca million WhatsApp messages\u201d from her family in Venezuela after the U.S. launched a strike on the capital of the country that led to the capture of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro on Saturday.<\/p>\n
In the early hours of Saturday, the U.S. launched a \u201clarge-scale strike\u201d in Caracas<\/a> and took Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, out of their home within the Fort Tiuna military installation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Guti\u00e9rrez, who left Venezuela in 2015, describes feeling a mix of optimism and confusion at the news.\u00a0<\/p>\n She’s been hoping for the time when Maduro would be removed from office. Now that it has happened, she wonders what the future will look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been living in this dictatorship for 26 years,\u201d she said, referring to Maduro\u2019s regime and that of his predecessor, Hugo Ch\u00e1vez. \u201cThe question is, is this OK to happen with Trump?\u201d<\/p>\n After the initial wave of emotions washed over, Guti\u00e9rrez started thinking about her family.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her parents, who live with her in Bridgewater, were visiting her grandmother for the holidays. Now, they are unsure how they will be getting back to Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n She says when visiting home, her parents travel from Canada to Colombia and drive to Venezuela from there. After the strike, she says this is not possible. Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on social media that his country is sending its own armed forces to the border in case of mass migration from Venezuela<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don’t know what they’re going to do because it’s very hard to fly [from] Venezuela,\u201d Guti\u00e9rrez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ivon Valdebenito, another Venezuelan living in Halifax, said she is pleased that Maduro isn’t in power anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel happy. I feel like, yes, finally, justice was made for our country, for my country,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd this is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she remembers what it was like living in Venezuela. It was \u201chorrible,\u201d she said, experiencing both hyperinflation and high rates of crime, which she blames Maduro for.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very hard to handle. The robbers, the kidnappings. I was worried about my life,\u201d Valdebenito said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The conditions in Venezuela pushed many to leave the country, and according to the United Nations Refugee Agency, there are currently almost 8 million Venezuelans living outside their country<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n After the strike in Caracas, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at a media conference on Saturday that the U.S. will run Venezuela until “proper transition can take place.”<\/p>\n Valdebenito says she thinks this intervention is \u201cgoing to be good,\u201d adding that she hopes this can lead to collaboration between the U.S. and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767572354_688_default.jpg\")
A photograph which U.S. President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account shows what he describes as Venezuelan President ‘Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima’ amphibious assault ship in the Caribbean Sea on Saturday. (@realDonaldTrump\/Handout\/Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767572354_762_default.jpg\")
Ivon Valdebenito came to Canada in 2020. She says she feels happy about Maduro not being in power anymore. (Ivon Valdebenito)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767572354_389_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n